April….National Poetry Month

Hi FUN People!
April is National Poetry Month. Poetry…..hmmmm…sounds like FUN to me! I actually have a couple of funny stories about my love for poetry.
I have always loved poetry, but especially poetry that rhymed! For as long as I can remember (in my adult life), I have used rhymes. Mostly, I like to make up silly rhymes. My kids hated it growing up because I would wake them up every morning singing silly made-up rhymes. The sillier, the better! As teenagers, they complained so much that one morning I didn’t sing. When they got up, they asked me if I was sick. I told them no, I was just tired of them complaining about my rhymes! Then they said, “Well, we missed it. We don’t like it, but we don’t like you not doing it, either!? Huh???
Anyway, my “accountant” husband told me that I was the only person he had ever known that talked in rhymes! Oh, the joys of being married to an early childhood teacher!
I also use rhymes constantly in the classroom to help de-escalate possible problems, to teach concepts and to elicit attention. One day a teacher came to me and asked me what the song was that I was singing to the class when she passed by my room on her way to lunch. Of course I didn’t know because I just made them up on the spot to suit a particular situation. That teacher told me I should start writing them down so I could share. I finally did just that and many years later, I actually have a published book! TRUE story !! A life-long dream-come-true because of that colleague! Talk about FUN!!
Here is one of my packets that includes springtime original songs, poems and finger-plays. This unit is good for the PreK student to second graders learning about the life cycle of butterflies!!